Bookmarking Social Networking System Content

ABSTRACT

A social networking system allows users to bookmark content within the social networking system to view at a later time and/or to share with other users. The content that may be bookmarked may include advertisements, user posted content, user comments on posted content, or any other content viewable within the social networking system, as well as links to content outside of the social networking system. A user may save the content by selecting a bookmark link corresponding to the content. The bookmarked content may be viewed later, such as in a bookmarked content dashboard, and it may also be used to provide additional content to the user that is related to the bookmarked content. Additionally, the user&#39;s bookmarking activity may be published to the user&#39;s connections in the social networking system to enable others to find and view the content that the user deems worthy of bookmarking.

BACKGROUND

This invention relates generally to software tools for saving socialnetworking data, and more particularly to bookmarking advertisements andother content items that are displayed to a user of the socialnetworking system.

A social networking system receives content from its users and displaysthat content to other users via various channels. In the newsfeedchannel, for example, a feed of stories for a particular user isperiodically updated with new content as it is provided to the socialnetworking system. Newsfeed content therefore has a high decay rate ascontent displayed in a newsfeed story is updated frequently. Forexample, content shared by a user may appear in a newsfeed the day it isshared, but may not appear in a newsfeed within a few hours or a fewdays. Therefore, users who would like to access a particular story inthe newsfeed at a later time may not be able to find that newsfeedstory.

The same problem exists for advertisements displayed in the socialnetworking system. In the social networking system environment,advertisements may include a social context, where the advertisementcommunicates an action of one of the user's connections taken inconnections with a thing being advertised. For these types ofadvertisements, users may be even more interested in interacting withthe advertisement. However, advertisements are often selected for a userand displayed each time the user refreshes a page. Accordingly, if auser notices an interesting advertisement, the user must immediatelyinteract with the advertisement or risk never seeing that advertisementagain. This may be undesirable, since this requires the user to switchattention to the advertisement instead o what the user is currentlyviewing on the social networking system.

Social networking system users can similarly navigate to other users'profile page to view content shared by others. Since such content isalways available on users' profile page, it generally does not have ahigh decay rate, but it may be similarly difficult for users to revisitthe shared content at a later time. For example, users may not rememberthe name of the sharing user or may not remember to navigate to anotheruser's profile page at a later time. If the shared content is a link toa webpage or a system outside the social networking system, a user maybe able revisit the shared content by navigating to the webpage andbookmarking it using a browser's toolbar. Such a method of bookmarkingitems is disadvantageous because the social networking system may not beable to track a user's actions or interests once the user navigates outof the social networking system.

Accordingly, systems are needed to enable social networking system usersto save content, including advertisements, to view and interact withlater in the social networking system environment.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the invention enable users to bookmark content displayedby a social networking system. The social networking system bookmarksallow users to view the bookmarked content at a later time by logginginto the social networking system. Additionally, the social networkingsystem may provide additional content to the user based on his or hersocial bookmarks. The social networking system may also communicate theusers' bookmarking activity to other users of the social networkingsystem, thereby creating an environment in which the content can bespread virally.

In one embodiment, the social networking system displays content tousers. Content may include status updates, uploaded images, videos,links to webpage addresses outside of the social networking systemdomain, advertisements, game applications, etc. In one embodiment, thesocial networking system provides user interface elements to allow auser to bookmark the content within the social networking system toenable the user to view the content at a later time. If a user selectsthe user interface elements indicating a request to bookmark a contentitem, the social networking system associates the content item with theuser's profile. In one embodiment, the bookmarked content is displayedin a news feed and displayed to other users of the social networkingsystem. The newsfeed may include the bookmarked content and a text or animage indicating that the user bookmarked the content.

In another embodiment, the bookmarked content may be displayed to theuser in a bookmarking dashboard. The bookmarking dashboard includes thebookmarked content and may include additional content identified by thesocial networking system. The additional content may be similar to thebookmarked content and may include, for example advertisements. In oneembodiment, the advertisements are selected if they advertise itemssimilar to the bookmarked content items based on a notion that users arelikely to bookmark content that they are interested in and thereforethey are likely to be interested in advertisements similar to thebookmarked content. In other embodiments, the advertisements areselected if the user meets the advertisement's targeting criteria.Targeting criteria may include characteristics of a user who should betargeted to display the advertisement. Examples of targeting criteriainclude, but are not limited to the user's demographic information,social networking usage information, bookmarking activity and interestsas indicated on the social networking system.

In an embodiment wherein the user bookmarks an advertisement within thesocial networking system, the advertisement may be retargeted orre-displayed to the user. In one embodiment, an retargeted advertisementmay be displayed to the user on other instances when the user visits thesocial networking system. In other embodiments, the retargetedadvertisement is displayed to the user on a third-party webpage orsystem outside of the social networking system.

The features and advantages described in this summary and the followingdetailed description are not all-inclusive. Many additional features andadvantages will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in viewof the drawings, specification, and claims thereof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a system for bookmarking content within a socialnetworking system, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a network diagram including a social networking system forbookmarking content.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a social networking system in accordancewith an embodiment of the invention.

The figures depict various embodiments of the present invention forpurposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readilyrecognize from the following discussion that alternative embodiments ofthe structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed withoutdeparting from the principles of the invention described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Overview

A social networking system provides content to its users. Content mayinclude but is not limited to advertisements, social applications,status messages, private messages, photos and videos. Content may alsobe displayed to the user in a variety of formats. For example, contentsuch as advertisements may be displayed to the user as a banner ad or astext and image. The advertisements may be displayed on a webpage used toview the social networking system content or on an application executingon a computing device. Similarly, content such as status messages,photos, videos, etc., may be displayed to the user within a newsfeedstory.

Content, such as advertisements and newsfeed stories may be displayed tothe user based on several factors. For example, an advertisement may bedisplayed to the user if the user meets the targeting criteria of theadvertisement. Additionally, if the user has been shown one or moreinstances of an advertisement, the advertisement may no longer bedisplayed to the user. Similarly if a newsfeed story has been displayedto the user one or more times, it may no longer appear within the user'snewsfeed. Embodiments of the present invention enable user to bookmarkcontent such that the user may view the bookmarked content in the socialnetworking system at a later time.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system for bookmarking content within the socialnetworking system, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. Inone embodiment, the user 102 views a social networking system display104 on a computing device. The social networking system display 104 mayinclude one or more advertisements (ads) 106 a-c and one or more socialstories 108 a-c. In one instance, if the user bookmarks an ad 106 or asocial story 108, the bookmarked content 110 may be stored with thesocial networking system. The bookmarked content 110 may be displayed tothe user within a bookmarking dashboard 112. The bookmarking dashboard112 may include a listing of content bookmarked by the user within thesocial networking system and links to access the content within thesocial networking system or outside the social networking system. Thebookmarking dashboard may also include content selected by the targetingengine 114. In one embodiment, the bookmarking dashboard 112 may beaccessed by the user by selecting a link or a button within a socialnetworking system display.

In one embodiment, a targeting engine 114 identifies advertisements orany social networking system content to display to a user based on thecontent bookmarked by the user 102. For example, the targeting engine114 may identify tags or words associated with bookmarked content 110and may identify social networking system content or advertisements thathave similar words or tags. In one instance, if the bookmarked content110 matches advertisement criteria provided by an advertiser, theadvertisement may be selected by the targeting engine 114 to display tothe user.

A publishing engine 118 displays the bookmarked content 110 to otherusers of the social networking system. In one instance, the publishingengine 118 displays the bookmarked content in a newsfeed story byincluding a link to the bookmarked content and including a displayindicating that the user 102 bookmarked the content with the socialnetworking system. As such, other users of the social networking systemmay view or access the bookmarked content 110. Thus, the socialnetworking system may take advantage of network effects to promote anddisplay bookmarked content to users of the social networking system.

The user 102 of the social networking system may be an entity that hasregistered with the social networking system. The user 102 may include,for example, a person, a business, an association, an institution or agroup. The user 102 may log on to the social networking system tointeract with the social networking system and other users of the socialnetworking system. The user may interact with the social networkingsystem by using one or more functionalities provided by the socialnetworking system, such as sending and receiving messages, postingcomments, uploading photos and videos, etc.

In one embodiment, when the user 102 logs on to the social networkingsystem, the user is provided with a social networking system display104. The social networking system display 104 may be displayed withinthe webpage or an application executing on a computing device. Thesocial networking system display 104 may include ads 106 and socialstories 108. In one embodiment, ads 106 may include advertisementsdisplayed to the user within the social networking system display 104.Ads 106 may comprise of banner ads, images or text. Social stories 108may include information about status updates, photo updates, locationupdates and any other social networking system actions that may be takenby one or more users of the social networking system. In one embodiment,the social stories 108 are displayed within a newsfeed to the user. Anewsfeed includes one or more social stories 108 from one or more usersof the social networking system. In other embodiments, ads 106 may bedisplayed to the user as part of the social story 106 within a newsfeed.

In one embodiment, the ads 106 and social stories 108 include a userinterface element enabled to bookmark associated content. The userinterface element may include but is not limited to an image, text or abutton. If the user selects the user interface element the ad 106 or thesocial story 108 is bookmarked 110 by the social networking system.

System Architecture

FIG. 2 is a high level block diagram illustrating a system environmentsuitable for operation of a social networking system 100. The systemenvironment comprises one or more client devices 210, one or more users102 associated with each one or more client devices 210, one or morethird-party website 240, a social networking system 100 comprising abookmarking dashboard 108 and a network 220. In alternativeconfigurations, different and/or additional modules can be included inthe system.

The client devices 210 comprise one or more computing devices that canreceive user input and can transmit and receive data via the network220. For example, the client devices 210 may be desktop computers,laptop computers, tablet computers (pads), smart phones, personaldigital assistants (PDAs), or any other device including computingfunctionality and data communication capabilities. The client devices220 are configured to communicate via network 220, which may compriseany combination of local area and/or wide area networks, using bothwired and wireless communication systems. The third party contentprovider 240 may be coupled to the network 220 for communicatingmessages to the social networking system 100 about the users' actionsoff the system 100.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a social networking system for bookmarkingcontent displayed by a social networking system 100. The socialnetworking system 100 includes a web server 302, a social networkingdata store 304, a privacy data store 306, a bookmarking dashboard 112, atargeting engine 114 and a publishing engine 118. In other embodiments,the social networking system 100 may include additional, fewer, ordifferent modules for various applications.

The web server 302 links the social networking system 100 via thenetwork 220 to one or more client devices 210, as well as to one or morethird party website 140. The web server 302 may include a mail server orother messaging functionality for receiving and routing messages betweenthe social networking system 100 and the client devices 210 or thirdparty websites 140. The messages can be instant messages, queuedmessages (e.g., email), text and SMS messages, or any other suitablemessaging technique. Additionally, the web server 302 links the socialnetworking system 100 to client devices 210 wherein the client devicescan be used to log into the social networking system by using anapplication executing on the mobile device 210 or by using a web browserexecuting on the mobile device 210.

The social networking data store 302 includes social networking systeminformation that is tracked and maintained by a social networkingsystem. In one embodiment, the social networking system data is storedas a social graph within the social networking system data store 302.The social graph includes a plurality of nodes that are interconnectedby a plurality of edges (representing interactions, connections,communications or other measures of relatedness between nodes). A socialgraph node may represent a social networking system object that can acton and/or be acted upon by another node. An edge between nodes in asocial graph represents any kind of connection or interaction betweenthe two nodes, which may result from an action that was performed by oneof the nodes on the other node. In this description, reference to anedge connecting two objects in a social graph is intended to refer to anedge connecting the nodes representing each of the two objects.

In one embodiment the bookmarking dashboard 112 associates bookmarkedcontent 110 to the user's social graph. In one instance, a user, asocial story 108, an ad 106 or any content that may be bookmarked by auser 102 represents nodes in a social networking system social graph. Insuch an instance, the bookmarking dashboard 112 may add an edge betweena user and bookmarked content to connect them within the socialnetworking system 100. In other instances, the bookmarking dashboard 112saves the bookmarked content in a user's profile within the socialnetworking system.

The targeting engine 114 identifies content that may be displayed to theuser as a result of the user bookmarking content within the socialnetworking system. In one instance, the targeting engine 114 identifiestags or words associated with the content bookmarked by the user. Tagsoften provide context for content displayed by a social networkingsystem or third party website. For example, a video about tennis mayhave tags including, sports, serve, deuce, etc. Users may identifywhether a video meets theirs viewing preferences without viewing thevideo. Similarly, news articles, images, social networking systemcontent may include tags. In one embodiment, the targeting engine 114identifies other content within the social networking system with tagssimilar to the bookmarked content 110 and selects the content to displayto the user. In other embodiments, the targeting engine may find contentthat is complementary or related to bookmarked content to display to auser.

In one embodiment, the targeting engine 114 identifies advertisements todisplay to a user based on content bookmarked by the user. Anadvertisement may include targeting criteria outlining requirements auser should meet to display the advertisement to the user. Targetingcriteria may include information that may be captured in a userbookmarking content within the social networking system. For example,targeting criteria may include that a user should be interested inathletic exercises, should have read an article on running, etc.Similarly, the targeting engine may identify that a user is interestedin athletic exercise if the user bookmarks content with a ‘running’ or‘jogging’ tag. In such an instance, the targeting engine 114 identifiesa user as meeting the advertisement's targeting criteria and selects theadvertisement to display to the user. The selected advertisement may bedisplayed to the user within a social networking system display.

In an embodiment wherein the user bookmarks an advertisement within thesocial networking system, the targeting engine 114 retargets theadvertisement to the user. For example, a user may bookmark anadvertisement with the intention of viewing it later, however the usermay forget to view the advertisement at a later point in time. In suchan instance, the bookmarking engine 114 displays the bookmarkedadvertisement to the user. In one embodiment, the retargeted advisementis provided to the user within the social networking system. In anotherembodiment, the bookmarked advertisement is provided to the user on athird-party webpage or a system outside of the social networking system.

The publishing engine 118 publishes the bookmarked content to users ofthe social networking system. In one instance, the publishing engine 118publishes that a user bookmarked a content and includes a link to thatcontent. For example, if a user bookmarked a post about running shoesposted by another user of the social networking system, the publishingengine 118 may publish that the user bookmarked the post and a link toview the post. The information about the user bookmarking a post may beprovided to other users of the social networking system if the otherusers meet the bookmarking user's privacy settings.

Social networking system users' privacy settings are stored in a privacydata store 306. In one embodiment, users may specify user content thatmay be shared with other users of the social networking system. Forexample, a user can provide that content generated by a user may only bedisplayed to friends of the user within the social networking system.Similarly, the user may specify that the user's bookmarking activity maybe displayed to friends of the user or specific group of user's friendswithin the social networking system. In such an instance, the publishingengine 118 access the privacy data store 306 and identifies other usersof the social networking system who may view the user's bookmarkingactivity. The publishing engine 118 displays the bookmarked content andthe user's bookmarking activity to the users who meet the bookmarkinguser's privacy settings. In one embodiment, the publishing engine 118publishes the bookmarked content and the bookmarking activity withinothers' news feed. In other instances, the bookmarking activity andcontent may be published on the bookmarking user's social networkingsystem profile.

Method for Bookmarking Content

In one embodiment, the social networking system receives a request tobookmark content from a user. The request may be provided by a userbased on the user interface used to display content to the user. Asdescribed herein, content includes user generated social networkingdata, such as profile posts, wall posts, photo/video comments etc., andcontent linked by a user, including photos/videos, articles, webpagesetc. A user may request to bookmark content by interacting with a userinterface provided by the social networking system. In one instance,each content story may include a button requesting a user to bookmarkcontent.

Responsive to receiving a request to bookmark content, the socialnetworking system stores the bookmarking activity within the socialnetworking system. Bookmarking activity includes information indicatingthat a user requested to bookmark content and the time and date of thebookmark request. In one embodiment, the bookmarking activity is storedas an edge connecting a user node and a content node within the socialnetworking system social graph.

In one embodiment, the social networking system identifies additionalcontent that may be displayed to the bookmarking user as a result of hisor her bookmarking activity. The additional content may include othersocial networking system content or advertisements. The additionalcontent may be identified based on the subject of the bookmarked contentand the subject of the additional content. For example, if theadditional content's subject is the same, similar or related to thebookmarked content, the additional content is selected to display to theuser.

In one embodiment, if the bookmarking activity meets an advertisement'stargeting criteria, the advertisement is identified as additionalcontent to display to a user. For example, the act of bookmarking acontent item may indicate that the user is interested in the content ofthe bookmarked content. For example, if a user bookmarks anadvertisement for NIKE running shoes, it could indicate that the user isinterested in purchasing running shoes or the user is interested inparticipating in running activities. In such an instance, the processidentifies additional content to display to the user, including but notlimited to advertisements for running shoes by other manufacturers ormerchants, advertisements complementary products, such as marathons,socks or other running materials. The likelihood or theclick-through-rate of a user being interested in items or theclick-through-rate of an item advertising similar or complementaryproducts to the bookmarked items is likely to be higher than randomlydisplayed advertisement to the user. Therefore, based on the higherclick-through-rate and the higher overall expected value of serving theadditional advertisement to the user, the social networking system maycharge a higher rate to advertisers for displaying such additionaladvertisements to the user.

Additionally, the bookmarking activity may be published to other userswithin the social networking system. In one embodiment, the bookmarkingactivity is published to other users if they meet the bookmarking user'sprivacy criteria. For example, if the bookmarking user provides that hisor her bookmarking activity can be seen by the user's friend, thebookmarking activity may be published to all of the user's friends.Similarly, if the user provides that the bookmarking activity may beviewed by anyone, the bookmarking activity may be published to any userof the social networking system.

SUMMARY

The foregoing description of the embodiments of the invention has beenpresented the purpose of illustration; it is not intended to beexhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed.Persons skilled in the relevant art can appreciate that manymodifications and variations are possible in light of the abovedisclosure.

Some portions of this description describe the embodiments of theinvention in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations ofoperations on information. These algorithmic descriptions andrepresentations are commonly used by those skilled in the dataprocessing arts to convey the substance of their work effectively toothers skilled in the art. These operations, while describedfunctionally, computationally, or logically, are understood to beimplemented by computer programs or equivalent electrical circuits,microcode, or the like. Furthermore, it has also proven convenient attimes, to refer to these arrangements of operations as modules, withoutloss of generality. The described operations and their associatedmodules may be embodied in software, firmware, hardware, or anycombinations thereof.

Any of the steps, operations, or processes described herein may beperformed or implemented with one or more hardware or software modules,alone or in combination with other devices. In one embodiment, asoftware module is implemented with a computer program productcomprising a computer-readable medium containing computer program code,which can be executed by a computer processor for performing any or allof the steps, operations, or processes described.

Embodiments of the invention may also relate to an apparatus forperforming the operations herein. This apparatus may be speciallyconstructed for the required purposes, and/or it may comprise ageneral-purpose computing device selectively activated or reconfiguredby a computer program stored in the computer. Such a computer programmay be stored in a tangible computer readable storage medium or any typeof media suitable for storing electronic instructions, and coupled to acomputer system bus. Furthermore, any computing systems referred to inthe specification may include a single processor or may be architecturesemploying multiple processor designs for increased computing capability.

Embodiments of the invention may also relate to a computer data signalembodied in a carrier wave, where the computer data signal includes anyembodiment of a computer program product or other data combinationdescribed herein. The computer data signal is a product that ispresented in a tangible medium or carrier wave and modulated orotherwise encoded in the carrier wave, which is tangible, andtransmitted according to any suitable transmission method.

Finally, the language used in the specification has been principallyselected for readability and instructional purposes, and it may not havebeen selected to delineate or circumscribe the inventive subject matter.It is therefore intended that the scope of the invention be limited notby this detailed description, but rather by any claims that issue on anapplication based hereon. Accordingly, the disclosure of the embodimentsof the invention is intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, ofthe scope of the invention, which is set forth in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method comprising: sendinga plurality of advertisements for display to a user of a socialnetworking system; receiving a bookmark request from the user inconnection with one or more of the plurality of advertisements, eachbookmark request identifying the user and the advertisement to bebookmarked within the social networking system; for each bookmarkrequest, storing a bookmark that associates the advertisement identifiedin the bookmark request within the social networking system; andresponsive to a request from the user to view the user's bookmarks,identifying the advertisements associated with the bookmarks stored inconnection with the user, and sending for display to the user adashboard interface, the dashboard interface including each of theidentified advertisements.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:publishing a story to a feed that is delivered to one or more otherusers with whom the user has established a connection in the socialnetworking system, the story comprising a description about the user'shaving bookmarked one or more of the advertisements identified in abookmark request.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:identifying an additional content items based on the advertisementidentified in one of the bookmark requests; and sending the identifiedadditional content items for display to the user.
 4. The method of claim3, wherein the additional content items comprise one or moreadvertisements.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the additionaladvertisements are identified if the user meets the advertisement'stargeting criteria, the targeting criteria identifying characteristicsof a user to display the advertisement.
 6. The method of claim 4,wherein the additional advertisements are identified if they advertiseat least one of a similar product and a complementary product to thebookmarked advertisement.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:selecting one of the advertisements for retargeting to the user based onthe existence of a bookmark that identifies the selected advertisement;and sending the selected advertisement for display to the user.
 8. Themethod of claim 7, wherein the selected advertisement is sent fordisplay to the user within the social networking system.
 9. The methodof claim 7, wherein the selected advertisement is sent from the socialnetworking system for display to the user within a third-party systemoutside of the social networking system.
 10. The method of claim 1,further comprising: responsive to a request from another user of thesocial networking system to view the user's bookmarks, identifying theadvertisements associated with the bookmarks stored in connection withthe user, and sending for display to the other user a dashboardinterface, the dashboard interface including each of the identifiedadvertisements.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more of theadvertisements sent to the user for display include a bookmarking link,wherein selection of the bookmarking link results in a bookmark requestfor the advertisement in which the bookmark link is presented.
 12. Acomputer-implemented method comprising: sending a content item fordisplay to a user of a social networking system, the content itemincluding a user interface element for requesting a bookmark of thecontent item; receiving a selection of the user interface element forrequesting a bookmark of the content item from the user; storing abookmark for the content item in connection with a user profile accountof the user; communicating the bookmarked content item to one or moreother users with whom the user has established a connection in thesocial networking system; receiving a request from the user to view theuser's bookmarked content; identifying the content items associated withthe bookmarks stored in connection with the user, and sending fordisplay to the user a display that includes the identified contentitems.
 13. The method of claim 1, further comprising: publishing a storyto a feed that is delivered to one or more other users with whom theuser has established a connection in the social networking system, thestory comprising a description about the user's having bookmarked one ormore of the content items identified in a bookmark request.
 14. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: identifying an additional contentitems based on the content item identified in one of the bookmarkrequests; and sending the identified additional content items fordisplay to the user.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the additionalcontent items comprise one or more advertisements.
 16. The method ofclaim 15, wherein the additional advertisements are identified if theuser meets the advertisement's targeting criteria, the targetingcriteria identifying characteristics of a user to display theadvertisement.
 17. The method of claim 15, wherein the additionaladvertisements are identified if they advertise items associated withthe content item identified in a bookmark request.
 18. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: responsive to a request from another userof the social networking system to view the user's bookmarks,identifying the content items associated with the bookmarks stored inconnection with the user, and sending for display to the other user adashboard interface, the dashboard interface including each of theidentified content items.